Nintendo Wii Fanboy

If you spent your days as a youngin' watching cartoons, you're probably familiar with Speed Racer. Yet, most fans of the series are all grown up now, considering that it aired over a decade ago. (Yes, Speed Racer X was around more recently, but that doesn't count since it got yanked after only a few episodes.)

That's why we were kind of baffled after watching this interview with the game's producer, Jeff Nachbaur. Nachbaur explains that the target audience for the upcoming Speed Racer title is 8-12 year olds, so the developers focused most of the game's testing on them. He also mentions that kids will love the roller coaster-esque tracks, in case you weren't sure that this game was made for kids. While we can definitely see those in a young age group becoming enamored with the new movie (which is what this game is based on), what about the gaggle of oldschool Speed Racer fans (like this blogger)? Will we enjoy it, too?

Perhaps -- after all, Mario Kart is an all-ages racer -- but the constant emphasis on this being a kids game has us a little less excited.

[Via GoNintendo]

Take, for example, Speed Racer. After Nintendo announced the peripheral at last year's E3, WB Games approached the company so that they could test it out with Speed Racer. In an interview with MTV Multiplayer's Tracey John, Jeff Nachbaur of WB Games stated that it took some tweaking to make sure that players wouldn't oversteer with the wheel. After a lot of testing, though, he says that they've managed to get it just right.

Nachbaur also said that the Wii Wheel doesn't add much of a difference in gameplay, but most testers enjoyed playing the game with the wheel rather than with just the Wiimote alone. So, if you like racing games, you can at least rest assured knowing that the Wii Wheel won't be some peripheral that you chuck away and forget about once your done playing Mario Kart -- assuming, of course, that you'll ever be done playing Mario Kart.